Alan Frew has always had a passion for reinvention; a passion that’s defined his 30-plus year career in the entertainment business, including more recently his work as a public speaker and best-selling author. Now that passion for reinvention has been applied unreservedly to his new record, 80290 Rewind,.
Released on Nov 6th 2015 on Black Box Recordings, 80290 Rewind finds Frew taking on beloved 80’s tracks – a set of songs from the decade during which his Juno Award-winning, Grammy-nominated band, Glass Tiger, became one of the most popular bands in the world – including Tears For Fears’ Hold Me Now, Simple Minds ‘Don't You Forget About Me’, John Waite’s ‘Missing You’ and Glass Tiger’s ‘Someday’.
“They’re amazing songs,” Frew says, “Songs that I loved as a fan and now love even more of as a vocalist. Due to the production of the time, so many songs of the 80’s weren’t quite appreciated for just how beautiful and well crafted they are. So, in the studio, we let the voice lead the way and went with ‘less is more’ when it came to the band.”
The intent was to completely reinvent the songs by adopting a stripped down approach in an effort to ensure their melodies, lyrics and core sentiments shone through as never before. “And the end result is exactly what we envisioned, pure and simple,” Frew says.
Although the album draws on material as diverse as ‘Nothing Compares To You’ and ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’, Frew, producers Jason Murray and Sean Andrews, and a high-powered band including Matchbox Twenty guitarist, Kyle Cook, treated the songs as a unit, creating a record that hangs together, both sonically and lyrically, and on which the melody and lyrics of these classic songs have never stood out so profoundly.
“The eighties were an era where so much of the music was defined by positive emotions and ideas,” Frew adds.
As if the vocal challenge of 80290 Rewind wasn’t enough, Frew experienced a major setback when after the final recording of his vocals at his home studio in Ontario in late summer 2015, he suffered a stroke in his sleep, which left him with temporary paralysis on his right side. “I was thinking of my family and friends first and foremost, but the album, my voice and whether I’d be able to sing again weren’t far behind,” he says, “particularly having just captured what I felt were the best vocals of my life.”
Frew has taken a similar approach with his recovery to the one he’s taken throughout all his life; taking action and having non-conforming, unrelenting belief. Alan remains positive and completely focused while throwing himself into physical therapy with the utmost determination to get back his full mobility and is now looking towards starting rehearsals – which he sees as an extension of the rehabilitation he’s undertaken so far – for an early 2016 tour.
80290 Rewind presents a truly fresh reimagining of truly classic songs. You’ll know every one, but you’ve never heard them like this. On this album, Alan Frew succeeds in makes these tracks his very own; deftly capturing the original spirit of the time they were created in, as well as the timelessness of the sentiments they express. As his manager puts it, “covers have never sounded so original”.
About Alan Frew:
Alan Frew is a multi-platinum selling songwriter, public speaker and author of the best-selling book ‘The Action Sandwich-A Six Step Recipe to Success by Doing What You’re Already Doing’.
His work with Glass Tiger has garnered him five Juno Awards, a Grammy nomination and five Canadian Classic Awards in recognition of songs that have been played in excess of 100,000 times on Canadian Radio. Additionally, Frew co-wrote ‘I Believe’ (the theme song for CTV's coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games) with Stephan Moccio,. He also co-wrote the title track from Johnny Reid’s Juno-Nominated album “Fire it Up”,which was coincidentally also recording by the legendary Joe Cocker.
Frew has toured with artists including Rod Stewart, Tina Turner and Fleetwood Mac, and performed for the Canadian Armed Forces and their allies in Bosnia, Israel, Egypt and Afghanistan. In light of his recent health scare, Alan is actively speaking out on the dangers of high cholesterol and hypertension in an effort to increase public knowledge and raise awareness of proper health practices in stroke prevention